In today's digital age, are you overwhelmed by the amount of digital content your organisation and you personally generate? The examples of such context are almost limitless, starting with marketing materials and product photos to internal documents and videos. They are all critical to your business's success so it's no wonder you are surrounded by them. How to manage these assets efficiently and effectively? Identify your DAM requirements and choose the perfect solution.
Assess Your Digital Assets
The first step in identifying your organization's DAM requirements is to assess your digital assets. The process is n complicated as it should focus on identifying the types of files you have, their volume, and how they are currently being stored and managed.
It's best to start the process by preparing an inventory of your digital assets. Use software tools for the purpose or do it manually. Create categories for the assets, separate for images, videos, audio files, documents, and presentations.
Next, determine the volume of each file type to plan the storage capacity you will need for your digital asset management solution. You may also want to consider the frequency with which these assets are accessed and updated, as this will impact the performance of your DAM system.
Identify User Requirements
The next step is to identify the stakeholders who need access to your digital assets and determine their requirements for accessing and using them. Talking about stakeholders, you have to analyse the use of assets by your internal teams, such as marketing, sales, and creative, as well as clients, partners, and vendors.
For each stakeholder group, identify the user requirements for accessing and using your digital assets. This includes how they will search for and access files, what types of files they need access to, and how they will use them.
You may also want to consider the security requirements for each stakeholder group. After all, you don't want your clients to have access to sensitive files.
Consider Workflows and Issues
Next step to take is considering the workflows involved in creating, managing, and distributing your digital assets. Identify any inefficiencies in these workflows that a DAM solution could be an efficient solution to.
DAM may be a great solution for a marketing team spending long hours searching for the right image or video for a campaign. You may face some issues if your teams frequently use large design files. In such a case, a DAM solution with version control and collaboration features could be beneficial.
Evaluate Your Budget and Resources
Evaluating your budget and resources available may hugely influence the implementation of a DAM solution.
The wide range of DAM solutions may offer you various functions, from basic file storage and management tools to more advanced solutions with advanced search capabilities, AI-powered metadata tagging, and workflow automation.
There is also one more thing to consider, often one of the most important one to be considered before making the final decision - your budget. It's not only the cost of the implementation, but don't forget about additional costs of training, or maintenance.
Who will manage a DAM solution in your company? Do you have proper resource, including IT, project management and user adoption resources?
Identifying your organization's digital asset management requirements is a critical step in selecting a DAM solution that will meet your needs and deliver the outcomes you desire. Follow the simple steps and identify the most efficient DAM solutions for your organization.
